Monday, April 18, 2011

Boys and men are a rarity in my family. The last three generations my family has been made up of primarily women so when I think of Mothers day I think of the mother daughter relationship.

I created Clara and baby Lanie with Mothers day and all that being a daughter and a mother means to me. Motherhood is truly a gift. Without it one can neverly fully understand, appreciate or properly forgive her own mother.

I frequently have light bulb moments in motherhood as I'm screaming at my daughter or exasperated with her mood swings, remembering my own mothers frustration and misunderstanding of me when I was a daughter at a similar age and she was a mother.

With motherhood comes the most extreme emotions of love, fear, joy, anxiety, resentment, pride, guilt, regret..the list goes on. With motherhood comes every emotion that makes us human. It truly is a gift.

My daughter NoraLeigh recently said to me, "mom, I'm afraid to have a child. Afraid I won't raise her right" my response to her was, "all you can do darling is do the best you can and love them as much as you can, and you'll be a wonderful mother". The rest just plays out and that is what makes us not perfect but beautiful mothers.

Happy Mothers Day to all those perhaps not perfect by beautiful mothers out there!!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

So often I hear the remarks that my dollies must be inspired by Tim Burton. It's interesting to me as I am a fan of Tim Burtons work and do love his characters but I wouldn't call myself a huge fan. I've seen most of his movies once, some maybe twice but that's it.

I think inspirations may trickle down and perhaps Tim Burton was a fan of whom I believe I'm most inspired by, Margaret Keane. Keanes prints were iconic in my youth. I had a number of them on my walls and remember laying on my pink chenille bedspread admiring the artists work and identifying with the images. She was a master at capturing emotion and depth, most entirely through the eyes.

I was feeling pretty excited recently when I created Eleanor. One of the limitations I've been running into in creating my dolls is with their eyes. The element I use lends toward a sideways look, so I have been feeling a bit trapped in that expression. With Eleanor I decided to really play with the eyes and was delighted when I got her to look straight ahead, resembling even more a Keane painting.

Of course I'm not trying to copy Keane's work but am intrigued with the emotion she captures through her big eyes and try to do something similar in my medium. I'm excited to play with this newly learned trick of mine and see what I can create, I feel likes it's opened a door of expressions I wouldn't have been able to achieve before.